The fall time reminds of how close we are to Christmas and soooo many projects are needing to be done so I thought I had best get started on my girls Christmas dress (or one of them at least).

I decided to use part of the jelly roll I had (Kate Spain's Flurry for Moda) and do a take on the apron knot dress I've seen about. I LOVE the fabric - Christmas-y and yet not to traditionally Christmas-y

what have I been up to? Good question. I feel like I've been in a crafting slump. I have a Oliver and S, Little Things to Sew cape cut out - but am feeling to lazy to pin it together and sew it. I want to start on some Christmas presents, but I signed up for a craft sale... So I feel like I should do some things for that.

I made a mug rug and table runner. The mug rug is a but more rectangle than square but I think it's still cute.

oh and by 'made" a table runner I mean I got the top sewn but still need to back it. I want to do red on the back but have no red fabric. So maybe green or blue?

I also made 3 fleecy hats for the sale (well one is a gift).. so 2 fleecy hats for the sale. fully lined!

hopefully this lazy crafting slump ends soon. Maybe I should start having naps when my girl naps so I'm not exhausted by the time she goes to bed!

I wanted to make my girl a sweet fall dress with some details (of course). I started with my idea from this dress for the collar and I love the basic A-line shape. I had planned on using my simplicity 3511 pattern for making the dress... but the babes was asleep when I had time to start and getting the pattern out would have woken her up - so I drew my own!

I found this great striped fabric (via a sheet on sale for $4!). The yellows, taupe and navy stripes just screamed fall time. I wanted to do a fun pocket on it and I think hedgehogs are cute but wasn't sure if they are fall.
Whenever I am unsure of something I ask my husband - he's double clever. He assured me hedgehogs are fall, and he knows this because when he was in primary school they used to have to poke piles of leaves with sticks to make sure there were no hedgehogs hibernating in them (apparently there were a lot of students at his school that liked to start fires in piles of leaves).

some vintage buttons I picked up at the thrift store for 10cents match perfectly with the ol' hedgehogs nose

My dear husband introduced bread pudding to me using traditional custard pudding. I am not sure if this is the 'proper' way to make bread pudding but it is the easy way!

I had made homemade pistachio pudding this week (Funny story relating to that: We went grocery shopping as a family, now during grocery shopping we kind of split up at parts to speed things up since our babes doesn't really like to sit still, and we don't always pay the best attention to things being rung through the till. When we were at home unpacking there was a bag of pistachios - my husband and I both look at each other and say "I didn't know you liked pistachios!?" turns out the babes tossed them into the cart)

Now the best I could figure the only thing toddler friendly to do with pistachios was make pudding but since the babes doesn't eat tons at a time it wasn't moving to quickly so I thought I'd try turning it into bread pudding! Thanks to pinterest it was easy to find a recipe!

to make easy bread pudding all you need

Bread

A toaster

Some butter or margerine

An oven friendly pot

and a knife

I was kind of stretching the ingredients list...

1st. Toast your bread and lather on the butter/ margerine on both sides of the bread

2nd. Cut said toast into little squares (If you are doing this for adults you can skip square cutting and just layer the toast in a container like illustrated)

3rd. Pour pudding over toast into the pot - give it a little mix so it gets all the pieces.

Now put it into the oven at 350degrees Fahrenheit and let it cook for 20-30 mins Till it looks perfectly delicious! (ps. I have no idea how this tastes since I can't eat dairy - but the reviews here were quite positive)

If your name is Melisa Please email me back! Or I'll pick another new winner Wednesday morning.

Now onto the disappointing flannel jammies.
I used a Butterick pattern since I wanted to have a sure thing with these jammies - and I even read the measures on the back of the pattern and though size 1 sounds like a perfect fit. fail.

haha. look how huge they are on her! Maybe they will fit next year... Going to make my own pattern I guess. KCWC fail. oh well it happens - and now you know my stuff doesn't always turn out.

Well I had a go at making my own pattern - using the idea for the PJ fail top and made a nightgown instead! It's a touch big around the neck - but that is an easy fix for the next jammies! I have Christmas flannel ready to go to make the babes and cousin their own Christmas jammies - cute?

Let's start this tutorial with a little bit about me! I haven't been blogging for very long and I only started sewing in December of 2010! I like to think I'm not too shabby for a beginner. I am a stay at home mom to my one year old daughter who is the inspiration for the majority of my projects and I have a insanely charming and handsome husband who rocks dimples and a British accent (for real, he's from Britain) and he inspires all the mushy projects. (He's also very craft-y. Seriously, he made me a mini puppet stage with changing backgrounds and working lights for an engagement present)

Fall time reminds me of snuggling up and watching movies, apple cider, and other generally cozy things such as pillows. (and this fall time-ee-ness is why I'm entering this project into stitched in color's celebrate color) and fall frenzy fun!

Today I want to show you how to make a pocket pillow with a fun embroidered detail on the front and a little dolly for the pocket. I LOVE adding details to the projects I make my daughter and she is just starting to love her dollies! I've also uploaded the pattern for the embroider and the dolly for you - Enjoy! (personal use only please)

From the pocket fabric cute one 15"x7" rectangle (although, to be honest I cute mine 16"x7")

On your main front piece figure out where you want to do your embroidery and transfer the image to the fabric. I used plain old graphite transfer paper (lightly tracing my image so the lines wouldn't show after a wash)

You will also need to heat and bond some fabric and then cut out the bird and iron that to the main pillow fabric.

Embroider on the design. I did a simple back stitch for the entire project (just learning embroidery). Then stitch around your bird (you can do it by hand if you want, but I used my machine just to keep things simple)

Now do a double fold hem on your pocket piece along the top edge and then pin it onto your main fabric (I left mine a bit loose on purpose so it would fit the dolly easily). Sew a line up the center of your pocket so you will have 2 pockets

Now double fold hem your two back pieces and then place onto the main pillow&pocket. When you pin it be sure your pocket stays in place and your back pieces will go over each other at the center by a few inches.

Sew all around your square (be sure to catch all the layers and make sure the pocket and back pieces don't get folded under while sewing) you will turn out by the open back pieces. Here you can see the overlap:

and that is your pillow done! Great work btw :)

Now start working on your dolly. I used 2 charms. Stitch the face onto the body by way of sewing on the hair (as seen below) and then stitch with matching thread the face part onto the body as well so it stays down.

In this next photo you can see how the face is stitched on. Pin your front and back, right sides together, and then sew around leaving a small 2 inch part un-sewn along the bottom .

Turn the doll out, stuff it, and then sew that hole closed. I machine stitched it but you could also be fancy and blind stitch it.

Isn't the finished dolly cute!

Now put that dolly in the pocket pillow and let your girl have fun discovering it!

Sitting on the pillow is also a fun thing to do while playing with the dolly.

And that is how to make a embroidered pocket pillow with dolly. Hope you enjoyed the tutorial and the patterns !

I made this pattern and dress for my babes for stitched in color - celebrate fall - and it also happens to be KCWC (good for me!). I hope to have the tutorial (and 1T size pattern) up for you this month yet!

PS. I appreciate all of you followers and regular readers - and your comments really do make my day!

oh and yesterday I found a 99cent/meter sale!!! 8meters of fabric for 8$! I'm wanting to turn the pinks into a jacket for the babes. outer and lining. I got 3 meters of each so that should be plenty!

and then went to a local art junktion - you go in and pick whatever you want and it is FREE!Check out the vintage patterns I got! (ps. if any of you understand old skool sizing - please fill me in! I am so confused by it - what is misses size 13 - bust 33 ?)

I'm so so excited about today's giveaway!!!!! why you ask - let me tell you just 3 reasons that spring to mind:

Lily Giggle patterns are made with the using of upcycled materials in mind! (She also has instructions for yardage included in the patterns if you prefer that or find a great deal). However, I love upcycling and how easy she makes it to turn T's on the donate pile into something adorable.

Lily Giggle now has a women's pattern! That's right - you can do some selfish upcycling! (not saying the kids patterns aren't adorable because they are!)

I LOVE free stuff and so I'm sure you do as well - when times are tight upcycling old T's into cute clothes for your kids or yourself is a lot of fun and having a new pattern is GREAT!

I was so very lucky to be one of the pattern testers for her first adult pattern - The Odelia Skirt! I love it! and I love that I can wear ruffles and still look my size (you know what I'm talking about).

This pattern was so easy - clear well written instructions (some of the best I've come across to be honest), plenty of pictures, written in a tutorial format, fully scaled patterns with clear lines for cutting. even if you don't win I recommend you pick up a pattern or two... or three... (and no, I am not being paid to say this).
Bonus - it fits true to size - LOVE it when a pattern actually fits my size! (I'm sure we've all paid for store bought patterns - made the size we buy at a store and it turned out 2 times to large - or maybe I'm the only sucker that just thinks' it'll be fine')

(see my butt looks normal sized still!)

and here is the professional pic from the LilyGiggle blog (a good camera and outdoor lighting really does make a difference!)

Isn't it pretty!

Beth was so kind she also offered me another pattern as a thank-you for pattern testing (I was shocked since getting the free pattern to pattern test is already a huge thanks if you ask me - but who am I to say no to a free pattern?!)

I picked out the Poppy Bubble Tunic to make for the babes. Love it! It is another great pattern - went together in an evening, fits true to size. I also love the size range 12months - girls7! Awesome! The babes will be getting more of these as they are super cute with a long sleeve shirt underneath in winter and I'm going to make one (or three) dress length for the summer!

(we had local elections here - and I took the babes with me and she got a "future voter" sticker - she looooves stickers!)

As a side note : I do not own a serger (I dream of it one day). I just wanted to throw that out there for those of you scared of sewing with knits on your plain ol' machine - it can be done !

Are you excited about this giveaway now? I've tried to include many different ways for you to enter - so there are lots of chances!

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://rafl.es/enable-js"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;You need javascript enabled to see this giveaway&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;.

So I have been sewing up a storm lately - not posting much - sorry readers. My babes has been super whiny and clingy lately and not wanting to nap well (making her even more whiny - joy)

Let's start with the good stuff! I did a pattern test this week - hint: it's ruffle - eee! (that's a hard word to spell)
and the pattern designer has offered a giveaway to you readers! Awesome part - it is an upcycling friendly pattern!!! You all know by now how much I love to upcycle I'm sure. If not - I LOVE it! and this pattern is awesome! Come back here Monday for that giveaway and tell your friends - it's a designer I'm sure you've all heard about before :)

What else have I been doing? making a bandana bib pattern and testing that out. I think it's cute! (check out my facebook page if you want to buy one)

Also on the trend of saving cash I made these fun re-usable sandwich baggies (the inside is one of those vinyl tablecloths that I got on sale at the end of summer for 99C!) 1 tablecloth can make SOOOOO much! More of these will be on my to do list!

and I did a little sketch today with my pens and watercolor pencils. I don't say it often on here but this and acrylic and canvas were my first art loves. I'm waaayyyyyy out of practice so don't judge to harshly - but my babes got a great big smile when she saw it and kept pointing at the little fox. cute! Inspired by this amazing artist to bring out the sketch pad once again.

I can see things I want to fix/change on this already... I'm going to have to start spending some more time on art again.

and in tune with gearing up for the big giveaway I've attached a practice rafflecopter thingy - so if you want could you please give it a go - I want to make sure I know how to get a winner from here1